In 1960, aged just 23, Princess Alexandra became President of Sightsavers, which was then called The Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind. Now, over 55 years later, she has made visits all over the world and attended countless engagements and meetings in support of the charity.

Sightsavers works internationally to prevent blindness, support people with visual impairments and campaign for social equality for people with disabilities.

Since 1960, Princess Alexandra has made visits to see the charity's work overseas, for example in 1972 she visited Ebenezer School in Hong Kong, a special home and school for the visually impaired.

More recently, Princess Alexandra has visited Washington DC with Sightsavers several times. In 2014 the Princess attended the World Bank River Blindness Fortieth Anniversary Summit, and in 2016 returned to attend a conference on ending neglected tropical diseases.

In 2014, Her Royal Highness attended the United Arab Emirates Conference on Saving Sight in Abu Dhabi, where. The Princess spoke of Sightsaver's work:

Through very straightforward interventions, Sightsavers is helping to save sight. One can only be touched by the notion that we are bringing light into lives which have been in darkness, or helping children to feel free to play in rivers without risk of becoming blind.

Princess Alexandra

In 2015, Princess Alexandra visited Sightsavers' new offices in Haywards Heath, Sussex, to discuss the work of the charity with staff members and to cut the Sightsavers cake!

CEO of Sightsavers, Dr Caroline Harper, told us how much the Presidency means to the charity: "HRH Princess Alexandra has been an incredible inspiration to Sightsavers over many years. In recent times she has travelled with us to the US and to the Middle East to help raise awareness for our cause.

Her dedication to blindness, and to the work we do on neglected tropical diseases shines out strongly, and we are so proud to have her as our President

Dr Caroline Harper CBE, CEO of Sightsavers

"I shall not forget her speech at the World Bank with their President Dr Jim Kim, which attracted a large audience and was very moving. Her dedication to blindness, and to the work we do on neglected tropical diseases shines out strongly, and we are so proud to have her as our President."

Did you know?

In 1959, at the age of 22, the Princess carried out her first solo overseas tour to Australia, and attended the Queensland Centenary Celebrations. The visit was so popular that 'The Alexandra Waltz' was written in Her Royal Highness's honour by prolific Queensland composer Clyde Collins and later in 1960 the Diamantina Hospital was renamed Princess Alexandra Hospital in honour of her visit